Though the composer died at an early age — not long after completing the eventual warhorse Carmen — his lyric gifts and flair for orchestration are also present in his obscure stage works. The intelligent staging comes from director Penny Woolcock. The singers all have urgent-feeling moments in the show, but even with this notable creative team, the opera makes for an inconsistently ravishing night. This familiar excerpt is sometimes interpreted purely for its gorgeousness — without any suggestion of the singer being troubled. The tenor received a grand ovation when it was over — and it even began with the ultimate audience compliment that being a house that stayed fully silent for a second or two, instead of rushing into perfunctory applause.

This other great title by the composer of Carmen takes us from ancient Sri Lanka to a 21st-century reality show while encapsulating the fascination of the Far East. It returns to the Liceu in a brilliant production by the young stage director Lotte de Beer.

Les pêcheurs de perles

Set in a faraway island paradise, Georges Bizet tells the story of a love triangle complicated by true friendship. Torn between friendship and jealousy, between a desire for revenge and a sense of duty, Zurga hesitates over whether to have the oath-breakers executed Inspired by a subject matter infused with the exoticism so popular at that time, he produced a captivating score with colourful instrumentation, enchantingly lyrical melodies and powerfully dramatic theatre music, which finds expression both in large-scale choral tableaus and intimate, almost chamber-play-like scenes between the main characters.